


Wings

by HisGlasses



Series: Moments of Ignoct - ficlet collection [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Deception, Fairy Tale Style, Hurt, M/M, Or Is It?, myth inspired, the Crystal is a bitch, though I guess it grew into a loose interpretation, winged royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 02:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15038417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisGlasses/pseuds/HisGlasses
Summary: A short fairy tale about the Kingdom of Lucis where royalty and all people related to them are equipped with wings. Young Noctis doesn't do well in his training and a young Ignis, overly eager to help leads to a somewhat major catastrophe, all finely set up by a crystalline being...





	Wings

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a prompt on tumblr where the prompter asked for a story based on the story of Sampathi in Hindy mythology.  
> It resembles the Icarus-story a bit, but the core was two competing birdlike creatures. One would be getting too full of himself and therefore fly too close to the sun, the other would shield him from harm with his wings, resulting in losing them.
> 
> I was thinking a lot about how to embedd this myth into the FFXV-verse and... in the end things ran away from me again and voilà. The result is this.
> 
> Thank you [Iselia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IseliaDragonwill/pseuds/IseliaDragonwill) for beta-ing this and enduring my ramblings inbetween <3

In another strand in time, through the looking glass of myth and fantasy, the Kingdom of Lucis towered over Eos. A majestic kingdom veiled in black, ruled by a benevolent king who gained his powers from the sacred Crystal, a haughty and powerful thing, gifted by the Gods. The Crystal was greedy and did not permit anyone but its master to come close and dare a tentative touch to the purplish pulsating surface.  
Tales were told of challengers considering themselves worthy that had been rejected by the being, said to have lost not only limbs but also lives. Unlike some of his late predecessors, King Regis had proven himself worthy of its powers, merely sustaining a knee injury when undergoing its trial.

The Royal Blood, and those affiliated were vested with a pair of wings, small to begin with and growing with age until they reached the floor, a graceful feather cloak endowing its bearer to soar high up into the sky.

Prince Noctis, heir to the Crown was gifted with a special pair, pitch black and wide for someone who had barely lived through a decade of his life. He was predicted a bright future, being born under a promising star that was rumoured to be the eye of the Gods themselves.

The prince was accompanied by a lanky boy, studious and astute as his glasses suggested, who went by the name of Ignis. He was destined to serve the prince as royal adviser and there was yet much to learn to live up to the expectations.  
In order to gain the necessary knowledge Ignis was attending special courses at the Royal Academy. One of the courses he found particularly interesting covered the topic of lucian history and the mysteries surrounding the Crystal.

Ignis had wondered about the being’s nature, about the rumours of acknowledgement and the myth of sacrosancticy. When he asked his teacher, longing to know more about the mystical object, the middle-aged man only flashed back a wry smile, exposing just a glint of teeth.  
“You will find out soon enough my boy”, the man purred, twirling a lock of his wine-red hair between his fingers. “If you have caught the Crystal’s interest that is.”

 

The young boy ruffled his sand coloured feathers at the thought of something inexplicable. There had to be a way to investigate what others barely dared to speculate about. Mere assumptions would not do. He had to know for certain, not out of curiosity alone but also to share this knowledge with his future king. Ignis’ mind itched for the truth and deep down, he started to wish to be of interest for the crystalline being.  
Not long after Ignis had started occupying his thoughts with the true nature of the sanctuary, he started to hear voices. Tinkling chimes that whispered to him in a long forgotten language.

From then on he started to get curious, sneaking around the Citadel in quiet nights to catch a glimpse of the cold coloured stone, whose voice had become a constant buzz in Ignis’ head, mesmerizing and captivating.  
It was one night the boy could make out words. He understood that the Crystal had been calling for him.

_So I finally reached you, young Wingbearer_ the voice tinkled in his mind. _I am pleased to make your acquaintance._

Ignis swallowed, eyes blown wide, baffled by the fact he was talking to the most sacred being in the kingdom. The one he had always been wondering about.

“I’m...” He looked around nervously. “The pleasure is all mine. My name is Ignis.”

_I know you, Ignis_ , the Crystal hummed in content. _You are to be the adviser to the young Prince. And there is much you crave to know, is there not?_

Ignis drew in a stunned breath. How did it know?

_I harbour knowledge of millennia long since past, young adviser. Knowing your mind is but a trivial thing compared to that._

Charmed by the encounter, Ignis found himself revisiting the Crystal often. At night and in secret. It would tell him tales of the Gods and fallen cities and fooleries of the Kings of Yore he had been diligently studying in class. It was fascinating.

 

One day, Noctis came to him, devastated and with tears in his eyes, causing much worry in the bespectacled boy’s heart.  
Inquiring what was wrong, the young prince told him everything. That he had scored a bad mark in the last exam and on top op that utterly failed in training. The Marshal had scolded him for neither flying high, nor fast enough, taking into account the rapid growth of his wings and the strength and potential they should have been harbouring. That he would turn out to be a disgrace for the Crown if he didn’t pull himself together and try a little harder, push himself a little further to attain the special power only those of Royal Blood possess.

That night, Ignis sneaked away again, searching counseling from the Crystal.

”Y-you said”, young Ignis stammered, “you said you harbour an incredible amount of knowledge, right?”

Chimes were ringing in the air as the Crystal reached out for the boy with a gleaming strand of silver-bluish light. Despite its colour it was warm on his skin.

_No need to tell me, Ignis. I already know what you are about to ask and I also have an answer._

Ignis swallowed. He still felt a little uneasy around the magic and the aura the sacred being was enveloped in.

_If you seek a way to grant the Prince more power, there is one. An easy one. A competition_ the Crystal whispered. _If the Prince can beat you in a wholehearted competition, he will be granted a power stronger than mankind has ever seen._

“Beat me?”  
Ignis frowned. “But I’m not that much stronger than Noct. I don’t see how this could-”

_Trust me_ , the Crystal chuckled. _This is not about strength itself but about winning over a beloved person in an honest fight._

“Do you promise?”

_I promise, young adviser. And do not fear asking me for help in this. I will more than gladly assist in your honourable act of help._

 

When Ignis told Noctis the following day, the prince didn’t believe the words he was told.  
Winning a competition? Against Ignis? And the Crystal could speak?

To disperse his doubt, the young adviser took Noctis with him, right into the chamber where the Crystal was residing.

”I can’t hear anything”, Noctis frowned, wondering if what his friend had told him was the truth.

“Trust me, Highness”, Ignis assured him with a wide smile under sparkling eyes. “I can hear it. It is talking to me. It promised to make you stronger if you can beat me at something. Right? You did!”

_That I did._

“See? Did you hear that?”

Noctis slowly shook his head.  
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Iggy but this is getting scary. Let’s go back.”

“Noct, I assure you I’, not lying to you!”

_If he does not believe you, come here young friend_ , it buzzed through the air.  
_When you touch me, I can speak to him through you, and he will believe._

“I’m going to prove it”, Ignis insisted and started running over the long gangway separating their platform from the Crystal, his wings flapping to make him gain speed. He was not yet as far as to fly, his wings still had to grow.

“Iggy, what are you doing?”, Noctis yelled after him.

“I’m going to touch the Crystal, so it can talk to you. It will work, I’m sure! It said so.”

Noctis’ eyes widened.  
”No! You cannot touch it! It’s forbidden to even get close to it.”

“Then try to stop me!”  
A spark lit up in Ignis’ green eyes. The competition that the Crystal had told him about was on and even if Noctis lost, Ignis would still be able to touch it and prove him he had been right. He could only win now.

“Ignis, no!”

Noctis spread his wings and darted after his adviser-to-be, desperately trying to increase his speed to pull him back again. Still, it looked like Ignis would touch the stone before Noctis could reach him.

“Too late, Highness! I’m already-”

“Ignis!!!”

Suddenly magic whipped through the air, streaks of light cracking with unbelievable force, striving to completely engulf the curious boy. The air was burning hot and the smell of ozone was lingering in heavy billows.  
Ignis’ eyes were wide with shock, blinded by the brightness of the light, invisible strings starting to tug him apart, when suddenly a silhouette shielded him from the harm.

The anguished cry of the young Prince was piercing his ears, its echo resonating in every facette pain could ever take on.  
He had protected him. Noctis had protected him. The Crystal had really been trying to kill him but instead Noctis had-

Ignis looked at his hands, that had wrapped themselves around the shoulders of the prince, who had collapsed onto him after taking the blow.  
They were stained with blood. Noctis’ blood.  
Ignis started to panic, panting at the thick red liquid running down his wrists and dropping from his fingertips. And then he came to realise another thing.

Noctis’ wings. They were not there. His wings were not there.  
His eyes should find them, a few meters away, feathers singed and drenched in blood. The magic had ripped them out, just like that.  
And it was all his fault.

 

The news of the incident spread around the Citadel like wildfire.  
The Crown Prince, wingless, invalid. Royalty rendered useless without its mark, a disgrace to the Kingdom.  
Countless times Ignis had apologised, countless times he had been forgiven.

“You only wanted the best of me, Iggy”, Noctis would say, stripped of the happiness that once was. “That’s only the proof that I haven’t been strong enough.”  
But Noctis would grow stronger. It was a slow and struggling process but he would eventually get there. At the age of sixteen, Noctis heard the calling of the Crystal for the first time.

It was by the time the king had unexpectedly passed away and Noctis had earned the acknowledgement of the Crystal he despised when Ignis proposed.  
He had trained, ten years under the adamant fist of both the Marshal and the late king’s shield and waited for the right moment. The moment had come.

Ignis kneeled down before his Prince, who was now King and above all the most important person in his life.  
“Noct- Majesty, for all the hardships that I caused I offer you my everything. I trained hard to be worthy enough, to be able to fully support you and stand in for the things I robbed you of.”  
His green eyes, filled with determination and devotion shot up to lock with Noctis’.  
“Let me be your wings.”

 

The Kingom of Lucis prospered under the reign of their youngest King. Closely accompanied by his ever loyal adviser he had earned the trust and respect of the people. It had been hard at first, being looked down upon, having to prove himself worth more than countless times but Ignis had always been at his side and had always found a way through the challenges they had to face. Gone was the curious and careless boy of the past. This man was trained to be a perfect fit, to protect and assist as the right hand of the King, better than any of his kind before.

When the Niflheim Empire attacked, striving to abduct the Crystal and claim its power as their own, Noctis and Ignis were gracefully soaring through the air, their fighting an aerial dance in perfect synchronicity. It had almost gone unnoticed that it was only one pair of wings holding both of them up in the air.  
Everything seemed to work, when the Empire managed to shoot a projectile at their combination. Noctis tugged at the magical powers of the Crystal, called out to it to lend him strength and summon the well known protective shield he had made use of in battle countless times.

This time the Crystal didn’t answer the call.

The adversarial projectile was coming for him, inevitable and unstoppable and Noctis was an unprotected, easy target.

Just when the first sparks sprayed out of the iron sphere, he felt Ignis from behind. He wrapped his wings around him and successfully shielded him before the device burst into pieces with sheer destructive force right in front of them.

They landed on the ground with a thud, Noctis cushioned by one of Ignis’ wings.

“Damn, that was a close call”, Noctis panted, eyes still wide from the moment of panic. “Thanks, Specs. I guess I would be gone by now if-”  
The words stuck in Noctis’ throat at the sight of his other half, writhing on the floor with his hands on his face.

“Shit!”  
The king scrambled closer, forcing one hand away from his face. Pictures of the past flashed before his eyes as he vaguely perceived blood oozing out of the once green eyes, splinters and metal scraps sticking out of his face like an awkward piece of art.  
“ _Ignis_!!!”

Ignis was screaming, as if it would ease the pain and grabbed Noctis’ shirt with the bloody hand that had been pulled out of his face.  
“I can’t see!”, he yelled. “Gods, Noct, I can’t see!”

 

The Kingdom of Lucis had suffered a heavy defeat and the retreat to the well guarded capital was quickly decided.  
Noctis had Ignis be sent to undergo medical treatment as fast as possible but seeing the damage that had been done, the doctors already warned him to not get his hopes up too high.  
Ignis’ sight would be lost.

 

Enraged by what had come to pass through the disobediance of the Crystal, Noctis hurried to the room where it was kept. It was there, silently humming a song in mockery.

“What’s wrong with you?!”, Noctis yelled at the Crystal. “You owe me your loyalty! Ever since I took your trial you’re bound to me! Why didn’t you manifest when I asked you to? Because of you, Ignis is－ Ignis is...”  
He pressed his lips together in a thin line, brows drawn together in a storm of anger.  
“You filthy liar!”

In its chamber the Crystal snickered.  
_Your foul mood is misplaced, oh wingless King. It is Ignis himself who has asked for this, a power surpassing the limits of a human. And I did I not bestow upon you the impossible? A second pair of wings and the whole life of a human being at your disposition. How come I attract your wrath? What else could you dare wish for?_

The young king’s rage against the Crystal was akin to calamity. With the Empire at their door sill the Gods’ only concern had been to play him for a fool. What had they bestowed upon him but suffering and hardship for himself and the one he loved?  
It dawned to him, that the sanctuary the kingdom had been venerating for ages was not a blessing but a curse, merely existing to doom the world the Gods had given up upon.

 

“Now, wouldn’t that be a tragic turn of events?”

Ignis’ heart was beating fast, stirred up by what his history teacher had just portrayed. This could not possibly happen. He would never let it. His small hand absently ghosted over his face.

The middle-aged man tucked his purplish hair behind his ear and rose from the desk to gently ruffle the hair of his young and all too diligent student.  
“Don’t look so shocked, dear Ignis”, he purred under an amused chuckle. “It was but a wild idea, spinning out the possible consequences.”

Ignis looked up into his teacher’s honey coloured eyes that were returning his gaze with playful urgency.  
“I only ask you to take one thing with you from this tale. Curiosity is not a sin, but do exercise it with caution, for you can never fully grasp what comes with its wake.”

When Ignis returned to the Citadel that day, it was the first time for him to hear the calling of the Crystal.


End file.
